Problem solving can often be accomplished using Seven Simple Tools. Scope, data collection and data display need to be addressed, and these tools cover the needs in a manner with limited complexity. [Read more…]
Seven Simple Tools of Problem Solving
Articles
Find all articles across all article series listed in reverse chronological order.
Is your ‘Failure Data’ failing you?
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is a tool that can not only help an organization in effectively & efficiently meeting its Maintenance Works Management requirements but is also a vital source of equipment Reliability & Maintenance (RM) data. [Read more…]
Potential Economic Consequences of a Pandemic
Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
At the time of this writing, coronavirus is spreading in China and is appearing in other areas of the world. Seasonal flu is also spreading through much of the world. As a comparison, the below graphics provide a snapshot of the current situations. First is the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) graphic with its representative statistics. Alarming? CDC estimates 19 – 26 million flu illnesses; currently, there have been approximately 8,000 flu deaths. Alarming? [Read more…]
Uptime – Managing failures before they occur
Being proactive with your assets is all about managing failures before they occur. You can reduce or eliminate the consequences of failure by forecasting what is likely to happen and deciding in advance about what to do about it. The advantage to doing this is that major business impact due to equipment breakdown can be avoided. High performing companies manage proactively – they foresee and avoid problems. It’s good for business! [Read more…]
What is Process Capability Analysis? Really.
I recently read the results of a AAA survey where Americans were asked to rate their own driving abilities. 73% of those surveyed considered themselves “better-than-average” drivers. Obviously only 50% of the drivers can actually be better than average. So it follows that at least 23% of those surveyed are mis-estimating their own skills.
This over-confidence in one’s abilities seems to find its way into all sorts of areas … including process capability analysis. Everyone who’s been around manufacturing for any length of time has certainly heard of Cp and Cpk. Most of them know that “higher is better” when it comes to these indices. And many will nod their heads and smile when you suggest that Cpk and Ppk account for centeredness, whereas Cp and Pp do not. But only a small percentage of manufacturing professionals can cogently answer the question, “What is Process Capability analysis?” [Read more…]
MTBF of a Human
“What’s the MTBF of a Human?” That’s a bit of a strange question? I ask this question in my Reliability 101 course. Why ask such a weird question? I’ll tell you why. Because MTBF is the worst, most confusing, crappy metric used in the reliability discipline. Ok maybe that is a smidge harsh, it does have good intentions. But the amount of damage that has been done by the misunderstanding it has caused is horrendous. MTBF stands for “Mean Time Between Failure.” It is the inverse of failure rate. An MTBF of 100,000 hrs/failure is a failure rate of 1/100,000 fails/hr = .00001 fails/hr. Those are numbers, what does that look like in operation? [Read more…]
Fear, Resilience & Failing Up
There is a lot of fear & hysteria going around the world right now with some of the recent events with Coronavirus, the Russia/Saudi Arabia oil war and the stock market plunge (among other things).
Should you be afraid?
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take reasonable precautions like hand-washing, not traveling to certain areas, however, panicking about the uncontrollable will take you away from things you can control (or at least, influence). [Read more…]
Why the Maintenance Deficiency?
The awareness gap results from management having limited or no knowledge of the maintenance function and its ability to contribute to the manufacturing process; and maintenance personnel, managers included, having a limited understanding of the business side of manufacturing. The result is that management and maintenance are often unsure about how they together contribute to the company’s success. [Read more…]
The Design for Risk Idea
Yesterday had the chance to review the long list of Design for X topics. Assembly, environment, maintainability, and of course reliability, plus about a dozen other areas of focus. How is a design team to navigate all these different sets of constraints and objectives along with crafting a solution that works?
With a little creativity, you could relate every Design for X topic to reliability. Easier to assembly, fewer assembly errors leading to field failures, for example.
Another way to think about the Design for X space is to consider a superset instead. What are all these design considerations really about? What is common, including the design for reliability topic? With a little thought, it seems clear to me that we all are really considering how to identify and manage risk. [Read more…]
Countering Belief Bias
It has been said that beliefs come first, and we then find supporting facts for them second. Can we reduce this belief bias? Can we improve our decision making? [Read more…]
4 Easy Steps for Online Transformer Monitoring
By Guest Blogger Wesley Suplit, product manager, SDMyers
After my first year in college, I discovered my favorite curriculum – economics. This surprises my friends and family because that discipline is known for its dry content and difficult math concepts. However, I had a completely different and inspiring experience. The course, and, really, my professor, opened my eyes to the beauty of observing how people make decisions.
What rocked my world was how simple economics could be. Conclusions could be inferred simply by observing phenomena and then performing thought experiments related to the observations. The goal of a thought experiment is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question. Surprisingly, no mathematical formulas or complex equations were needed. [Read more…]
Guide to Asset Management Strategy
According to the Institute of Asset Management, an asset management strategy is a “long-term optimized approach to management of the assets, derived from, and consistent with, the organizational strategic plan and the asset management policy.” Stated differently, an asset management strategy is a high-level but very important document that guides asset management activities within an organization.
An Overview of the Asset Management Strategy Development Process
Coronavirus: Assessing Risks
Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)
Coronavirus seems to be spreading quicker than previous pandemic potential viruses, i.e., H5N1, H7N1, SARS, Ebola, MERS, etc. Could this be the long awaited/anticipated threat realization, or is it becoming a media driven phenomenon? Needless to say, planners should be implementing some assessment analysis regarding the potential for impacting business operations. Here is a brief look back at one of my articles from 2006, entitled, “Pre-Pandemic Planning: Business Continuity Perspectives“, when Bird Flu (H5N1) was the hot topic:
The business community is “not adequately prepared” for a possible avian flu pandemic, says Secretary of Health & Human Services Michael Leavitt. As of July 24, 2006, there have been 231 confirmed cases in humans resulting in 133 deaths (a mortality rate of 57%). The virus has spread to 33 countries through wild migratory birds that have now infected domestic poultry (source World Organization for Animal Health). [Read more…]
Re-engineering Reliability Centered Maintenance
Reliability Centered Maintenance methods compliant with the SAE standard JA-1011 (“Evaluation Criteria for RCM Processes”) all have common features – they must, or they won’t comply with the standard. Those requirements are “minimum” requirements, as they are with any standard. RCM-R complies. But what makes it different and why?
The RCM standard and most, if not all, of the established RCM methods are firmly rooted in the past as it was defined by those few individuals who wrote the SAE standard. The standard and those methods have stood the test of time because they work, but we asked, “Can they work better?” Answer – yes. [Read more…]
What Are You Born To Do?
In December, I was doing cardio at the gym and watching the sports highlights. One of the highlights was Derrick Rose hitting a game winning shot. In the post-game interview, the reporter asked him about the shot. Derrick Rose’s response gave me chills.
“Excuse my English, but I’m born to do this sh**” [Read more…]
